Adjustable mast leg support



Oct. 14, 1947. H. J. WOOLSLAYER ErAL 2,429,009

ADJUSTABLE MAST LEG SUPPORT Filed Feb. 23. 1945 YEE l VENT RS.- HOMER J. 8/001. sLa RWIN 9. QMPBELL sen. Jamel/vs WITNESSES:

Z d ILJAM Patented Oct. 14, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ADJUSTABLE MAST LEG SUPPORT Homer J. Woolslayer, Erwin A. Campbell, and Cecil Jenkins, Tulsa, Okla., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Lee C. Moore Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa. a corporation of Pennsylvania Application February 23, 1945, Serial No..579,436

2 Claims.

This invention relates to oil well masts havin I .a pair of pivoted legs, and more particularly to :means for attaching the lower ends of the pivoted "legs to the base that supports the mast.

works of various sizes, it is desirable to be able to attach their lower ends to the base at points farther from the foot of the mast in some cases than in others. Heretofore, swinging the'pivoted legs to a different position for such a purpose has required shoe plates of different heights by which the legs are connected to the base, because the lower end of each leg is adjustable in an are having its pivoted upper end as its center, and therefore the height of the lower end of the leg above the top of the base varies with the distance of the leg from the foot of the mast.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide a support for the lower end of a pivoted leg of a mast which permits the position of the leg to be varied, which does not require replacement by another support when the position of the leg is changed, which .is readily adjustable for'the different positions of the leg, and which .is relatively simple in construction and easily in stalled.

These and other objects are attained by locating a base member below each pivoted leg and .by connecting the leg thereto by means of a certain kind of shoe. This base member preferably is permanently mounted in the usual base on which the mast stands. The upper end of the shoe, which is connected to the pivoted leg, is adaptet' to be selectively disposed in any one of a plus rality of different positions occupied by the lower end of the leg when moved closer to or farther from the foot of the mast, and this is accomplished by making the shoe attachable to the base member in different positions. Thus, the shoe may be adjustably attached to the side of the base member by means of removable fastening members extending through openings in the base member and shoe. By providing a plurality of these openings in certain predetermined positions in the base member, the shoe can vbe .attached to it different distances from the foot of the mast and at different elevations. In each different position the shoe may be braced by brackets likewise adjustably connected to it and to the base member. The openings through the base member are so positioned that the farther the shoe is located from the foot of the mast the higher it projects above the base member. Each different position of the upp r end of the shoe is in an are having its center at the pivoted upper end of they leg.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are fragmentary diagrammatic side views of a mast having pivoted rear legs connected to its supporting base at different distances from the footof the mast; Fig. 4 is an enlarged side view .of the support for a pivoted leg with the shoe occupying the position shown in Fig. 1; Figs. 5 and 6 are views similar to Fig. 4 with the .shoe changed to the positions shown in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively; Fig, 7 is an end view of the shoe taken on the line VII-VII ofFig. 6; and Fig. 8 is a plan view of the leg support.

Referring to Fig, .1 of the drawings, the foot of a mast I .is connected through hinges 2 to a horizontal base 3 resting on the ground. The base preferably is fabricated in the usual way from longitudinally and transversely extending I-beams and the like. The mast is supported in upright position by means of a gin pole formed from two pairs of legs; one pair pivotally connected to the other at their upper ends at 4. The gin pole is used to support the cable by which the mast is swung up into upright position around hinges 2 in a well-known manner. The lower ends of the frontlegs 5 of the gin pole are secured to the base, and its rear legs 6 form continuations of the rigidly connected rear legs 1 of the upright mast to which legs 6 are, in effect, pivotally connected by reason of their pivoted connection to the front legs of the gin pole to which the upright mast is connected. Therefore, pivoted legs 6 actually .form the lower portions of the masts rear legs. The lower ends of these pivoted legs are adjustably attached to the base 3 by means forming the subject matter of this invention.

Thus, a pair of base members, preferably in the form of .a pair of laterally spaced channels In standing on edge, are connected at their ends, such as by welding. to a pair of the transverse I-beams II that form part of the fabricated base ,3 for the mast. Although one channel could be used, a more rigid structure is obtained by using two as shown in Figs. 7 and 8; a pair for each pivoted leg of the mast. In the vertical slot formed between this pair of channels a shoe I2 is adjustably mounted. This shoe is formed from a pair of spaced parallel vertical plates l3 which, most suitably, are triangular in shape and rigidly connected together by a pair of bars 14 welded to their inner surfaces. One corner of the shoe projects above the base and is provided with aligned openings IS in its two plates. As shown in Figs. 4 and 7, the lower end of a pivoted leg 6 of the mast projects between these two plates and is provided with a transverse opening that registers with the shoe openings. A suitable fastening member I! extends through all three openings for connecting the leg to the shoe.

The lower corners of the shoe likewise are provided with transverse openings that can register with a pair of similar openings l8 in channels I 9, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Removable fastening members I9 extend through these registering openings to detachably connect the shoe to the base members. By having several openings l8 through each channel and equally spacing them apart, the shoe can be mounted in any one of several diiferent positions. Openings l8 are disposed in an are having the pivoted upper endof leg 6 as its center. This means that the difierent positions into which the upper end of the shoe is adjustable will define an arc likewise having the ivoted upper end of the leg as its center. In other words, the two arcs are concentric. The-refore, as the leg is swung outwardly and its lower end rises, the shoe which supports it will project above the base a corresponding amount and support the leg without requiring the mast to be tilted in order to permit the leg and shoe to be connected.

Usually three diiierent positions for the pivoted leg give a suiiicient range of adjustment. Three such positions can be obtained with only three base member openings l8 by making the base and one side of the triangular shoe of different length than its remaining side. Such a shoe can be reversed to locate its upper end in either of two difierent positions, and yet it can be connected to the same pair of base member openings l8 in both instances. The third position of the shoe is obtained when it is connected to the other pair of base member openings. It also is preferred to make the base of the shoe shorter than either of its sides so that the base member will not have to be made unduly high in order to accommodate i openings l8.

In Figs. 1 and 4 the shoe is shown with its upper end disposed in its lowest position in which it is closest to the foot of the mast. In Figs. 2

and fastening members I9, by which the shoe is connected to channels ID, are in the same pair of openings l8 as in Fig. 4, but the shoe has been turned around so that it now projects farther above the base with its upper end also located farther from the foot of the mast. The third position of the shoe, shown in Figs. 3 and 6, is produced by removing the fastening members l9 and shifting the shoes position between channels I 0 to cause its lower openings to register with the upper pair of openings I8. The fastening members are then placed in these registering openings. As shown in Fig. 4, a curved line connecting the three diiierent positions occupied by the centers of openings I6 describes an are having its center at the pivot point 4 at the upper end be braced by means of a pair of brackets 2| attached to the top of the channels and to the opposite sides of the shoe. For this purpose the upper flanges of the channels are each provided with a series of three longitudinally spaced sets of holes 22 to permit the brackets to be connected thereto in different positions by bolts 23. The shoe is provided with three holes 24 through it, one for each different position of the shoe. That is, for each different position of the shoe there is a hole through it that registers with holes through the top of the brackets so that a bolt 25 can extend through the shoe and the two brackets.

By means of a support such as disclosed herein, the position of a pivoted leg of a mast can easily be varied by merely changing the position of the shoe l2 relative to its supporting base members and shifting the position of the brackets 2| accordingly. These things involve merely the removal of a few fastening members and the reinsertion of them in openings in a different position. Although three openings ill have been shown in each channel Hi, it will be obvious that a larger number may be provided in cases where there is room for them.

This application is a continuation-in-part of our joint application Serial No. 523,684, filed February 24, 1944, for Adjustable mast leg support.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, we have explained the principle and construction of our invention and have illustrated and described what we now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, we desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

We claim:

1. A support for varying the position of the lower end of a pivoted leg of a mast, comprising a base member adapted to be located below such a leg, a reversible triangular shoe having one corner pointing upwardly above the base member and provided with a horizontal opening therethrough for connecting it to the lower end of the leg, the base and one side of the shoe being of different length than its remaining side, said base member being provided with at least three uniformly spaced horizontal openings disposed in an are having the pivoted upper end of the leg as its center, the lower corners of the shoe being provided with horizontal openings adapted to register with difierent pairs of said base member openings to locate the upper shoe opening in different positions along an arc concentric with said first-mentioned arc, and removable fastening members extending through the lower shoe openings and the base member openings registering therewith to detachably connect the shoe to the base member.

2. A support for varying the position of the lower end of a pivoted leg of a mast, comprising a base member adapted to be located below such a leg, a reversible triangular shoe having one corner pointing upwardly above the base member and provided with a horizontal opening there- 5 through for connecting it to the lower end of the leg, the sides of the shoe being of unequal length and longer than its base, said base member being provided with three uniformly spaced horizontal openings disposed in an are having the pivoted upper end of the leg as its center, the lower corners of the shoe being provided with horizontal openings adapted to register with different pairs of said base member openings to locate the upper shoe opening in difierent positions along an arc concentric with said first-mentioned arc, removable fastening members extending through the lower shoe openings and the base member openings registering therewith to detachably connect the shoe to the base member, and a bracket de- 15 2,106,084

6 tachably connected to the top of said base member and to the shoe for bracing the shoe.

file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATEN'i's Number Name Date r 2,293,958 Woolslayer et a1. Aug. 25, 1942 Coddington Jan. 18, 1938 

